


Operation: Bughead

by MatildaMoonface



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-21 03:16:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11935176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MatildaMoonface/pseuds/MatildaMoonface
Summary: Based on raptorlily's Tumblr fic-request:Canon AU - Betty is still nursing a broken heart after the whole Archie incident. Veronica, who firmly believes getting over someone requires getting under someone else, enlists the help of Kevin and a reluctant Jughead in her scheme to set Betty up with a few of Riverdale's most eligible bachelors. However, when Ron and Kev recognize the connection between Jug and Betty, they abandon plan A & adopt plan B: Operation Bughead. Betty and Jug catch wind of the plan and playfully retaliate.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm new to Ao3 and fic writing, please bear with me.

“Operation Bughead?!” Veronica wrinkled her nose.

“C’mon, it’s catchy, it’s cute!”

“Really Kevin? _Bughead_? What’s wrong with, I don’t know, “Jetty”? That at least has a modicum of gravitas to it. That’s assuming we actually need some sort of juvenile codename in the first – ”

Veronica brought her diatribe to an abrupt halt as a rather sweaty Archie jogged up to them. “What are we talking about guys?”

“Err, Lice”, Kevin replied, bravely ignoring the sharp kick Veronica administered under the bench.

Surprisingly, Archie looked more hurt than sceptical. “Thanks a lot, Kevin," he hissed, "I told you about that in confidence.”

 

*****

 

Before Operation Bughead had become the obvious plan of attack, Operation Find Betty New Romance had been going anything but swimmingly. The target remained stubbornly, frustratingly hung up on Archie; Jughead seemed even more grumpy than usual; and even Kevin seemed to be running out of ideas.

Hopeless as it seemed, Veronica hated the idea of their strange alliance coming to naught and giving up on helping Betty mend her wounded heart. 

As was true of so many great, and terrible, ideas, the plan had been sown at Pop’s. Watching a dejected Betty walk out the door when the night was still young yet again, Veronica and Kevin agreed that it was time to take matters into their own hands.

It was something Veronica had been deliberating for a while. Cute though Ronnie had to admit he was, she couldn’t help but think that Betty was probably far better off without Archie. And she’d realise that a lot sooner in the company of a more suitable companion. Preferably one even cuter than Archiekins, who would actually treat Betty like the queen she is.

She badly wanted to help her friend, that was true, but, to herself, Ronnie did have to admit that her motives weren’t entirely selfless.

Archie was an open book, and, thanks to the puppydog looks she had caught him turning her way, Veronica couldn’t help but feel partially responsible for Betty’s pain. She also suspected his interest in Riverdale High’s most insipid teacher wasn’t entirely down to his enthusiasm for strumming her instruments, thanks to how grovelingly pathetic he became in the woman’s vapid presence. Thankfully Betty was too blinded by her own hopes and hurt to see where Archie’s attention truly lay.

 

Just as she’d expected, Kevin was quick to agree that there were few better ways to get over a cute boy than by getting under another, and even Jughead looked surprisingly interested in the conversation. 

The stage was set, and the idea was solid, but putting it into practice had proved more headache-inducing than tracking down a Birkin in a sample sale.

 

Things had looked up when Betty quite willingly went to Pop’s with Trev Brown, one of Riverdale’s most eligible, and cutest, bachelors and Kevin’s first pic for a match. The next morning she was aglow and positively skipped into class. Could they have struck gold first go? Kevin was every bit as thrilled as Veronica, who put Jughead’s less than ebullient demeanour down to Jughead’s less than ebullient demeanour.

“Betty, you’re positively glowing – should I take it the date with Trev was a success?” Veronica had asked.

“Date?! No, it wasn’t a date.” Betty wrinkled her nose. “It was much better than that. We had a great chat about potential stories for the Blue & Gold, and he thinks he might be able to get me an interview with Oscar Castillo.”

 “But he’s totally cute, no? You guys would be adorable together.”

“Oh he’s super cute, but …like a puppy. He feels almost like a little brother to me.”

Of course, that was the moment that Jughead finally deigned to look pleased at the situation. _Contrary bastard_ , Veronica thought to herself, giving Kevin a firm nudge before he made a “hey, what’s good enough for the Blossoms..!” comment.

 

Other suitors had been far less successful. For someone, who had been friends with Betty since childhood, Jughead seemed to have very little idea of what might constitute a suitable match for her and reluctant to even try. When pressed he refused to budge from his suggestion of Dilton Doiley.

 _Why does the boy insist on being so weird?_ She’d only brought Jughead in on the plan because he seemed so outraged at Archie’s treatment of Betty – and even more angry than normal at the world now that it had cast a pall over Little Miss Sunshine. Well, that and the fact she and Kevin had been left alone with him for more than 10 minutes, which was 9 more than she knew how to fill with someone who treated awkwardness as sport.

Never one to be deterred, she repaid his uncooperativeness with determined positivity. “Well, he is the smartest person in Riverdale, and Betty is basically a genius. So maybe it isn’t the worst idea in the world.”  
  
It was the worst idea in the world.

 

Or at least that was what she thought until desperation had led her to the bright idea of choosing Reggie as their next target. She still thought the idea had had some merit – ok, so the boy was an absolute jackass, but who said a cerebral or romantic match was what Betty needed? Non-taxing eye candy was the perfect distraction from a broken heart and the ideal gateway drug to the hard stuff of true love.

Crafty sleight of hand during a game of 7 minutes in Heaven, which they’d somehow managed to wrangle a protesting Betty into, was all that had been needed to put the pair of them alone together. A turn of events that appeared to delight Reggie every bit as much as it vexed Betty.

“Go on Betts, give it a chance” she’d prodded.

Less than four minutes later and Betty was running out the door in furious tears. Without missing a beat and with eyes flashing murder, Jughead flew at Reggie, as Veronica and Kevin raced out the door.

 It took some persuasion, but they'd managed to convince Betty to go to Pop’s for a comfort milkshake and to accept their most profuse apologies.

“It’s not a big deal. Just Reggie being Reggie. I’d normally just ignore him or laugh it off, but… I guess I’m just tired, and since the whole Archie mess there just seems to be a parade of boys demanding my energy, when I’d rather just be hanging out with you guys – hey, where’s Jughead?”

“Dealing with Reggie being Reggie, I believe”, said Kevin, with a grimace.

A few awkward moments later and a furious looking Jughead stormed in.

“Betty! Are you ok?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. Are _you?_ ”

Jughead just shook his head, staring at Betty. 

Veronica suddenly had the very unfamiliar feeling of being invisible.

Eventually the world seemed to come back into focus for him.  

“Yeah, I’m fine Betts. Maybe Reggie would have hit me but he realised there was a mirror in the room and totally forgot I was there. If anyone else was hoping for 7 minutes in Heaven they’re out of luck tonight.”

It was far from a stellar Jughead quip but Betty laughed as if it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard, while Jughead managed to look simultaneously bashful and delighted with himself.

Veronica and Kevin exchanged a glance

“Umm, I just need to borrow Veronica for a moment”, said Kevin, jumping out of the booth.

Betty’s preoccupied lack of curiosity as the pair headed for the door spoke volumes.

 

“Kevin, we are utter dullards.  Riverdale’s answer to Salinger is head over heels for Betty!”

“God, how did I miss this?! Am I broken? Well, it’s obvious what we have to do now. This whole time… It was as plain as the nose on Jug's face!”


	2. Jughead

 

_Am I in love with Betty Cooper?_

It wasn’t the first time Jughead had asked himself that question, but it had never been so hard to dismiss.

Love had never been on Jughead’s agenda. Love was Betty constantly being disappointed by a conveniently oblivious Archie, love was his mother crying when she thought the house was asleep, love was every one of his dad’s “I’m sorry”s.

True enough, love was also “as you wish it”; it was Clarence and Alabama; and it was “there is a light, and it never goes out”. But he’d spent a lifetime convincing himself that life was not a movie, life was not a song.

His view was all very well in theory. And, even in practice, avoiding pesky romantic feelings had come naturally to someone who viewed humanity as ultimately untrustworthy and often ugly and cruel. There was just one problem. One beautiful problem that smelled like sunshine and sunflowers and looked like a Hitchcock blonde. A problem that was becoming more problematic by the day.

It turned out not much could breed certainty in one’s feelings like being asked to matchmake the object of those maybe-feelings with a vanilla parade of weedy geniuses, preppy puppy-dogs and hot losers.

Again, he relived the lump he’d felt in his throat the night before as he watched Betty disappear with Reggie, then, worse, the sight of her dashing out in the night, tears marring her lovely cheeks.

Winding Reggie Mantle up was one of life’s simple pleasures, but Jughead had made a career out of avoiding actual physical altercations with him. And yet he’d run straight into that room, fists clenched, mind roaring, the moment he saw the hurt on Betty’s face – a fact that surely revealed an uncomfortable truth he couldn’t ignore any longer.

A truth that was compounded by the way his black mood had been lifted, heart elevated straight into his mouth, when he saw Betty's clear and genuine delight when he arrived in Pop’s.

If there was one thing that had a more powerful effect than Betty’s beautiful face tarnished by sadness, it was the warmth of her smile.

A loud snore broke Jughead out of his reverie. He was staying with Archie, as he often did when things got too much at home and nights at the drive-in felt too dicey. He glanced guiltily over at Archie’s sleeping form. Even now, when Archie had made his feelings, or lack thereof, for Betty abundantly clear, having such thoughts about her still felt slightly wrong somehow, at least under the Andrews’ roof.

Interested in Betty himself or not, Archie was bound to feel at least uncomfortable if he knew how Jughead was feeling.

Archie, who so effortlessly let Betty down, time and time again. Archie, who saw Betty as a security blanket, or maybe a favourite chair – a source of comfort and warmth, no doubt, but a familiar pleasure, easily taken for granted.

 

Archie who used the fact that Betty was “perfect” and “too good for him” not as an incentive to be better, but as an easy answer for regularly causing her hurt and letting her down.

Of course, he too was guilty of thinking of Betty as perfect, and of using it as an easy excuse to never even entertain the idea that he could ever be more to her than a friend.

He’d probably never completely lose that sense of wonder and amazement at her beauty, kindness, intelligence, bravery, and drive, but now he also saw what he was sure that Archie didn’t.

Betty was so much more than the “girl next door”. So much more than “perfect”. She was better than perfect, because she was real. And adorable, sometimes adorably dorky, and, actually, sometimes incredibly frustrating – and every so often she’d let a glimpse of the magical, but human, person underneath that perfect façade.

The magical, human, person he was maybe, probably, hopelessly in love with.

 _Shit._  


*****

The next day at school Jughead found himself free from the now-familiar attentions of Veronica and Kevin. Perhaps the most recent disaster had been enough to make them see the error of this fool’s errand and they’d given up trying to set Riverdale's shambling hormonal horde upon poor Betty. He hoped that was the case, but it seemed equally as likely that they’d decided he was more hindrance than help and the plot was better without his input.

Much as he was relieved to no longer have to participate in their mission, he dreaded to think what ghastly boy Kevin and Veronica, left to their own devices, might thrust upon poor Betty next. And then there was that nagging, selfish question of what if they were successful? Much as he wanted to see her happy, it was no longer easy to convince himself that nothing would give him more joy than seeing Betty in the arms of some worthy Adonis.  

  
He’d been expecting some hectoring from Kevin during the lunchtime’s blue and gold meeting, but despite having spent week’s badgering Betty for a gossip column, he was nowhere to be seen. And Veronica – who had no interest in the paper but a great deal of interest in perching on Betty’s desk and quizzing her about every boy in the sports section – was similarly absent. As was everyone else.

The student body remained stubbornly unmoved overall in the face of Betty’s enthusiastic attempts to reinvigorate interest in the school paper, but it was still rare that the pair of them had the office all to themselves. Though it raised some suspicions, it was a rarity that Jughead relished.

He and Betty worked together in companionable silence, side by side despite all the empty desks, knees touching and shoulders within gentle nudging distance when they occasionally broke the peace to share a joke or debate a word choice.

Lunchtime was almost over when they reluctantly emerged from the dim and dusty room, blinking into the light of the yard as they made their way over to their usual bench, where Veronica and Kevin were deep in conversation, thick as thieves. Seeing Betty and Jughead walking towards them, Veronica jabbed Kevin in the ribs and the pair abruptly halted their conversation then shared a conspiratorial smirk before turning to wave.

_What the hell are they up to now?_

*****

The house was silent when Jughead arrived home after school – perhaps a welcome opportunity to raid the fridge then settle in with a movie and, with any luck, shut off his traitor brain for a few hours.

The truth was, it was only those moments he’d spent with Betty that he’d had some respite from thinking about her. A floodgate had been opened, and he didn’t know if he could close it again. Wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Perhaps the worst (best) part of it all was the fact that he was even beginning to allow a chink of the emotion he trusted least through his well-honed armour – hope.

He’d be crazy to think Betty could be interested in him, surely, but she’d seemed just as happy as he was to have a lunchtime alone together. Not to mention that when he’d found himself feeling comfortable enough to make jokes he’d usually dismiss as too silly or obvious, she’d indulged him, laughing heartily, smiling right into his eyes, not bothering to move the knee that rested against his.  

He absently walked into the kitchen, poured some orange juice, turned to leave the room… and squealed like Jellybean did when he took her to a thoroughly age-inappropriate haunted house for her fifth birthday. 

Betty was perched on the counter like some kind of angelic kitchen gargoyle. In her cheerleading outfit. His shock was immediately supplanted by a bolt of desire, painful in its intensity, shooting through him.

“Betts! Hi”, he spluttered after an embarrassingly long moment.

“Hey, Jug”, she laughed. “We have to stop running into each other like this! Although I wondered if you’d notice me at all this time. I hope it’s happy thoughts that have got you so enraptured.”

He was grateful, for what must have been the ten thousandth time, to her beautiful face, which made it just a tiny bit easier to avoid staring too long at her impossibly long, impossibly perfect legs, delicately crossed, and dangling, oh-so-adorably above the kitchen floor.

There was another life they shared where she was sat there because he had whirled her into the air then slammed her, giggling and breathless, down atop that counter in a moment of shared passion. Another life his whole body ached for.   

When he failed again to respond in anything close to a reasonable timeframe she hopped down and continued, “soooo… where’s Archie?”

_Of course. That was why she was there._

“Err, I don’t know. Music practice I assume. You guys made a date?” He immediately cringed at the sound of his stupid damn voice saying that stupid damn word.

“Um. No. Not a date”, Betty replied quickly. “Kevin told me Archie was looking for me and had asked if I’d meet him here. Why he didn’t just message me I have no idea. And now he’s not even here!”

“Yep. Err, no. Just me.” _Jesus Jughead, what is wrong with you?_

“You ok Jug?” Betty’s concern was laced with gentle amusement. Jughead took a big gulp of juice so he could get away with just a nod and “mmhmm!” in response. “Are you sure? And did Archie seem ok to you when you last saw him? He’s either ignoring me or he’s let his battery die again. I hope everything’s alright.”

“I’m fine, really, and you know Archie. He’s probably turned his phone off so he can _feel the music,_ or he’s just got caught up in the post-football shower with Reggie again.”

“Oh god. Don’t mention the boys’ locker room, please!” Betty buried her head in her hands.

Jughead seized the opportunity for deflective humour, “sorry for reminding you of your crimes, Betty Voyeur Cooper”, he teased with a ludicrous wiggle of his brows. “Seriously Betts, Archie seemed fine when I last saw him. He probably just wanted to ask you the name of the pink Power Ranger again, then forgot all about it when Reggie spanked him with a wet towel.”

“Ok, worrying over. Promise. What are you up to? My mum’s in one of her moods, so, even if Archie’s not coming, I wouldn’t mind hiding out here for a bit if that’s ok, and I’d love some company”

“I figured I’d just watch a movie. If that’s not too sedate for Riverdale’s most notorious peeping tom then you are more than welcome to join me.”

Betty grinned. “Will there be popcorn?”

“I am insulted you’d even think to question that, Cooper.”

*****

  
Jughead felt self-conscious the moment they stepped into Archie’s room and his sad little camp bed, last nights’ pizza boxes, and various articles of discarded clothing were all spread out in front of Betty. But she barely seemed to notice, instead making a beeline for his record box, one of the few things he’d bothered bringing from his meagre collection of possessions.

“I know you’ve only got a few things here, but having your stuff around makes Archie’s room so much more interesting”, she said, flashing that dazzling Betty smile up at him. Jughead was too busy blushing at the compliment to feel too embarrassed about the fact that what Betty took as “a few things” was almost the full, pitiful extent of his worldly possessions.

“God, Jug”, she said as she thumbed past Patti Smith, Neil Young, X-Ray Spex, Joan Jett, The Smiths, Jeff Mangum, Otis Redding, Swans, Carina Round, “do you own anything that isn’t painfully cool?”

He decided not to mention that the previous night, while she’d been dancing around his mind, he’d been unable to shake America’s Sister Golden Hair from his head.

He hopped out of the room for a moment while she changed her uncomfortable outfit for something of his. Seeing her in just his shirt and her tiny cheer pants was the most exquisite torture, but he took a mental photograph he knew he'd hold onto forever.

They spent an enjoyable half hour talking about music, and he was reminded how uplifting Betty’s presence could be. Eventually the lure of nachos and popcorn was too much and they settled in to start a movie.

“So, what do you have in store for me, Mr. Jones?” 

“I was thinking maybe True Romance?”

“Oh, great. My favourite Tarantino”, Betty said with a smile.

“I bet most people in this town would be surprised to hear that Betty Cooper has a favourite Tarantino movie in the first place.”

“Well, most people in town don’t really know me.” A pause.  “At least not like you do”, she said, an unreadable look on her face.

“Of course, he didn’t actually direct, Tony Scott did while Tarantino–” he trailed off, catching Betty’s smile and raised eyebrows. “Aaaaand, you know all this already. Of course.”

Great. Now he was mansplaining one of Betty’s favourite movies to her. Why did he have to be such a dickhead? No wonder she only had eyes for Archie. How had he possibly imagined he might have a chance? He was lucky she so much as tolerated his company.

Self-loathing sloshing around his brain, it was a struggle to even enjoy the movie at all until Betty suddenly leaned over to him with an impish grin and half-whispered “you’re so cool”, in an adorable imitation of Alabama’s drawl.

To distract himself from the fact his stomach seemed to be trying to flip itself inside out, he jumped up and grabbed his dad’s old duffel bag.

“That’s uncanny Betts, but you’re missing one essential thing”, he said, rooting around inside the bag, until he emerged, triumphant with a pair of old, still vaguely goldish aviators.

She put the sunglasses on, and with a giggle pulled one side of shirt down over her shoulder and shook her hair loose from its neat ponytail. “You’re so cool. You’re so cool. You’re so cool.” A pause, then she leaned closer, staring right into his eyes, accent slipping and voice suddenly serious as her sweet breath softly brushed his face: “Jug. You’re so cool.”

Jughead couldn’t decide whether he was devastated or relieved that Archie chose that moment to walk in.

“Uh, hi. Wait, what the hell are you guys doing?”

“Oh hey Archie,” Betty responded, sheepishly righting her shirt and pulling the glasses off her face, as Jughead coughed and crossed his legs. “We were just watching a movie.” Then, firmer, “while I waited for you.”

“Wha- what, why are you waiting for me Betty? We didn’t have plans, did we?”

“No, but Kevin told me you were looking for me and that I should come over after school..?”

Archie shook his head in apparent confusion, “What? – no I wasn’t looking for you. And you only live next door, why bother?”

“Nevermind! I guess I should have known”, said Betty, pulling her hair back into an extra-tight pony and shouldering her bag. “Well, I’ve wasted enough time tonight, so I’ll get going. See you guys tomorrow.” A moment later she popped her head back round the door - "Sorry Jug, I almost forgot, thanks for the shirt", she said throwing it to him with a sad smile. 

 

“What was all that about?” Archie asked when she was gone.

“I guess it was just a misunderstanding”, Jughead replied, though he was harbouring an increasingly strong feeling that it was anything but. “But you know Arch, she is still supposed to be your best friend, maybe you could seem a little more… let’s see, friendly towards her?”

 

Despite being Archie’s other best friend, Jughead felt weirdly morose at the prospect of spending an evening with him, so he was pleased to discover that it was nearly a reasonable time to call it a night.

It was funny how fast time slipped by when he spent it with Betty.

 

They played some Xbox for a while, but Jug’s heart wasn’t in it. He couldn’t stop thinking about the way Betty had looked at him just before Archie walked in … and then the way she’d disappeared as soon as she knew Archie didn’t need her after all.

Lying in bed, a now sunshine scented shirt hugged tight to his chest under the covers, he felt buoyant, a sickening and somewhat unfamiliar feeling that he feared could only be described as ‘lovesick’, and deflated all at once.

But then his phone buzzed. A message from Betty:

Hey. Sorry for what I said about my night being wasted. I was just annoyed at Archie. It was actually the best evening I’d had in a long time. Let’s finish the movie soon? xx”

Jughead fell asleep with a smile on his face for the first time in a very long time.


End file.
